


I was Lightning (Before the Thunder)

by SilverSpeedster



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - High School, Drama & Romance, F/M, Origin Story, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, SnowBarry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-13 18:49:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13576758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverSpeedster/pseuds/SilverSpeedster
Summary: Barry Allen was already the new kid at Central City High School, then an accident gives him super powers. He may have to choose between having a 'normal life', and saving people. What does it take to be a hero?Flash High School AU Origin Story. SnowBarry because they're my OTP. Also some characters' personalities may be different from the show. It is an AU after all.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, my first attempt at fanfiction is underway. Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash or any of the Characters, blah blah blah, sole property of Stan Lee or somebody, blah blah blah. I also do not own Thunder by Imagine Dragons, fair use something or other, blah blah blah. 
> 
> TLDR: Don't sue me I'm broke anyway and this isn't making me money. Now for the story.

**Chapter 1**

When I was seventeen I moved to the one and only Central City. Everyone said I should have been excited, but I wasn’t. I had just finished the first semester of my junior year of high school. My dad got offered a management position for his firm in Central City and off we went. I’m an only child and my mom died when I was young so it was just me and him. There I was, the new kid at Central High. I had a lot of friends back in Starling City, but none of that mattered anymore. New semester and all I didn’t have much to catch up on, but I still spent the first week getting settled in.

The second week was when I started to understand the dynamic at Central High. There were the jocks and cheerleaders, there were popular guys and popular girls, although there was some overlap between those groups they were pretty distinct. Then there were the nerds, the autos guys, and the band/theater kids. They distinguished amongst themselves as I would learn later, but to me it was all the same to me. That wasn’t it, I mean you could have tried to make a giant Venn diagram of the social groups there for a master’s degree. It was so different from Starling where there weren’t groups like this. That was a rougher environment, more diverse but less complicated. There were people to avoid, people who were your friends, and everyone else was just, _people_. In Central City if you didn’t have a group you must be a freshman, a new kid, or you sat at Mark’s table during lunch. Actually, I was both of those last two for a while.

Mark. Now there’s an interesting guy. At some point he came to the understanding with his teachers that he could go wherever he wanted if he showed up for tests. He explained to me that he spent most of freshman and sophomore years as a social outcast. Junior year he was still an outcast, but he was an outcast with pull. I felt like he was the only other person who really saw how broken the school was socially. Unlike me however, he spent two and a half years manipulating it to the point where he had real influence. When I met him somebody in every group owed him a favor. He acted as a kind of favor exchanger often. Mark had no affiliations to any group, so anyone could come to his table at lunch for help without judgement from their friends. Mark didn’t have friends, but he didn’t have enemies either. He would often just stay at his table for all three lunch periods. During my time at Central High that table helped bust drug dealers, successfully cracked teachers’ passwords, and masterminded a conspiracy that got an assistant principal fired and nearly institutionalized, but we’ll get to that later.

My second day at Central High I found myself at Mark’s table. We were the only two there, and he spoke a total of twenty words to me. When I walked over tentatively he looked me over and asked,

“New?” Then motioned to a seat across from him when I nodded. About halfway through lunch a girl struggling not to cry walked over and had a brief conversation with Mark, then hugged him, quite awkwardly because Mark stayed stiff as a board, and walked away. He looked at me and said,

“Belief is power. If people believe you can do something it isn’t hard to convince them that you have.” That was it. Just a piece of deep sounding advice and nothing else. Unsure what to say I just kind of nodded and grunted noncommittally.

I was taking AP Lang, Personal Fitness, Physics, Psych, AP World History and Forensic Science. My physics class was where things were interesting. A bunch of the popular crew were in there, as well as a few nerds with schedules preventing them from taking honors physics. What was causing a palpable tension was this one girl Caitlin Snow. She was dating a Jock named Ronnie Raymond and sitting over by him and his popular friends. Problem was that she was a nerd, and so I would often see her nerd friends JJ Cravitz and Cisco Ramon glaring at Jay Garrick, Iris West, Eddie Thawne, and Ronnie, next to whom sat Caitlin. Cisco apparently felt pretty betrayed because Caitlin and him were like, best friends. Honestly, I have no earthly idea why she and Ronnie were together, but I resolved to just mind my own business. That worked well until the third week.

On Wednesday of my third week Iris came over to Mark’s table, where I was still sitting, at lunch. By this point I was used to people coming to talk briefly with Mark so I just ignored her and kept eating my lunch. That’s probably why I almost choked on my spaghetti when Iris addressed me.

“Hey Barry,”

“Uhh... hey, Iris, right?” I asked, more to say something than because I didn't know who she was.

“That’s me.” She says, not helping me with my attempt to move the conversation along.

“So, what’s up?” I asked the question casually, but the question underneath was more like _‘Why are you talking to me?’_ Iris apparently picked up on that because her tone hardened slightly as she replied,

“There’s this party at Eddie’s of Friday, everybody who’s anybody is going to be there.” This time she was the one with the hidden meaning, _‘If you ever want to be anybody at this school, come to the party.’_ Well I got the message loud and clear, I just didn’t know what to do about it.

“I’ll see about, you know, homework and lots of…stuff…” I trailed off lamely, trying to be noncommittal. Iris just smiled and said,

  
“See you there.” Then walked back to her friends.

* * *

 

“Way to go, Slugger!” I suppose I should have expected my dad would be excited I got invited to a party. He’d been pushing me to try and make new friends ever since we arrived in Central City. However, I secretly wanted him to tell me I shouldn’t go to justify my own apprehensions. I still wasn’t sure that I wanted to go, but now I didn’t really have a choice.

Before I knew it, Friday afternoon rolled around and I was heading to Eddie’s house in my dad’s Corvette. That was an upside of him encouraging me going to go to this party I guess. Eddie’s house was huge. I mean we’ve got money, but his parents must have been so loaded. It made for a good party anyway. That is, until the alcohol came out. It was after people started to have a couple drinks that I saw how fake all these popular kids were. Anyone who wasn’t in their tight circle liable to be labeled _unpopular_ , at which point you’d probably never be seen as cool again. I was pretty sure I had found where the writers of Mean Girls got their inspiration. So that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I was in an exaggerative mood, OK? It was like all these people were sheep, following the popular kids without even realizing it. _‘I bet Mark would understand what I mean’_ I thought, _‘I wonder if he’s here.’_ I was pulled from my thoughts about Mark by a loud voice coming from the room on my left. I moved into the doorway to hear better.

“...do NOT belong to you Ronnie! If you really cared about me you wouldn’t have even brought me here, but you don’t! All you care about is yourself and your stupid reputation. I’m done with it. I’m done with you.” Ronnie tried to grab Caitlin’s arm as she turned to leave, but she wrenched it free and spat, “Don’t. Touch me.” A moment later Caitlin shoved past me into the hallway, grabbed a coat and slammed the door as she half-ran out of the house. I turned back to look at the room she had come from to hear Ronnie yell,

“What are you all looking at?” At the small crowd of people watching the spectacle. Moments later he too shoved past me, but unlike Caitlin he didn’t leave, but headed deeper into the house. Probably going to find his friends and put Caitlin on their unpopular list. I shrugged to myself and started to walk after Ronnie, when I glanced out a window. I saw Caitlin at the end of the driveway, sitting on the ground hugging her knees. It took me a few moments to realize why she was there: Ronnie must have driven her. She didn’t have a way to get home. I looked behind me at the party, the deceivingly inviting yellow glow of the lights, then at the figure, shoulders shaking, huddled on the driveway. Then I made the single most important decision of my life.

I grabbed my coat, shoved my feet into my boots, and walked out the door, leaving the party behind. My feet crunched on the gravel of the driveway as I approached Caitlin.

“Leave _sniff_ me alone _sniff_ Ronnie,” Caitlin said brokenly as I approached.

“Hey, look, Caitlin, I know it might not be my place but…well I’m new here and it seems like what you did in there was pretty brave, so uhh... I mean this isn’t really my crowd anyway...umm…what I’m trying to say is...uhh...” I cleared my throat as Catlin turned to look at me. “Look I’m just trying to offer you a ride home if you need one,” I finished, mentally kicking myself. _‘Smooth Barry, real smooth. You didn’t even tell her your name and you expect her to get in a car with you?’_ “I’m Barry, by the way. Barry Allen.” I gave her a nervous smile. After a moment Caitlin returned a small smile, her tear-stained face brightening slightly.

“Lead the way, Barry Allen.” She followed me over to my dad’s car and we climbed in. An inexplicable feeling of relief washed over me as we pulled away from Eddie’s house and I let out a relaxed sigh.

“So where am I taking you?” I asked Caitlin as we approached the main road.

“Home please.” She said quietly, and I had to chuckle at that.

“No kidding. But where exactly is that?”

“Oh, Near Maple and Water Street, close to school.”

“Alright then, off we go,” I said with grin and hit the accelerator. The car leapt forward, going way too fast but hey, it was late and deserted. I glanced at Caitlin who was staring morosely out the window.

“I can’t believe I skipped the STAR Labs unveiling to go to that stupid party.” Caitlin whispered, so softly I barely heard.

“The what?” I asked, and Caitlin gave a small start, as if she had forgotten I was there.

“Oh, tonight they’re turning on the new particle accelerator at STAR Labs for the first time. Cisco and I were going to go, but I ditched him to go to that dumb party.” With that Caitlin began to cry again and I just sat there awkwardly and focused on the road, unsure what to do. I mean what do you do with a girl you barely know crying next to you in your car? A crash of thunder overhead gracefully gave me something to say.

“Thunder during a snowstorm, that’s kinda weird, isn’t it?” I asked to break the growing silence. Then I saw the light. A red glow rapidly expanding across the sky. “What is going on?” I asked to nobody in particular while Caitlin muttered next to me

“Oh no, oh no no n-” She was cut off as the windows of the car suddenly blew outwards. The car began to swerve out of my control. I cursed and Caitlin screamed until she was cut off by a drift of snow blowing in her face through the broken window. I turned to look at her and she was the last thing I saw before it happened. Caitlin, her brown hair speckled with snow, her blue eyes so alive, bright against the dark gray background of twilight.

The first thing I felt was a tingling, pulling feeling which intensified to a burning as my vision went red. I tasted something metallic and the burning turned into the most intense pain I had ever felt as millions of volts of electricity surged through the steering wheel and into my body where it seemed to gather in my chest, making it impossible to breathe. Time seemed to slow down. I felt a twisting in my gut and heard a crunching sound that told me the car was flipping. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. One idea flashed through my panicked mind over and over. ‘ _I’m going to die, Caitlin’s going to die, we’re going to die, we’re going to die.’_  Then the electricity gathering in my chest seemed to explode and I felt my muscles spasm. The red in my eyes was replaced with a blur of white and grey, then black as my head hit the ground, the roughness of asphalt against my cheek the last thing I felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: There it is, I hope you liked it. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Let me know what you think about Mark. He as just a throw away line in my written draft, but he insisted on getting his own paragraph when I typed it.
> 
> Also for those who don't know, the title is a reference to the song "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons. Go listen to it on YouTube. Anyway, I was listening to it and I though it fit really well with the character I want Barry to be in this story.
> 
> I will post chapters weekly provided I can finish them. I’m sure you all know how hectic balancing school, life, and writing can be. Thanks for reading!
> 
> Peace,
> 
> -TJ 


	2. Chapter 2

_Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep. Beep, Beep, Beep, BEEEEEEEP._

I jerked upright, yanking a tube out of my nose and several electrodes off my skin. My vision burry, I felt sore and stiff, unable to place my surroundings. Two people were conversing on the other side of the room. As my eyes adjusted to the fluorescent lights, I saw a young brunette and a man in a motorized wheelchair. I tried to say something, but all that came out was a dry croak. The girl looked up and saw me. She said something to the man and he pressed a button turning his wheelchair to face me.

“Oh my God he's up. Hartley!” the man called, “He's up!” The girl walked towards me and suddenly I walked recognized her.

“Caitlin?” I asked, my voice cracking.

“Yeah, that’s me.” She said, her face a mixture of emotions.

“Step back please Miss Snow.” Said a new voice, and I turned to see a young man just a few years older than myself approaching. He wore a lab coat, glasses, and a little too much hair gel.

“Lie down please.” Said the man whose name I correctly guessed to be Hartley, not giving me much choice as he pushed me back on the cot. “You just woke up from a coma; you need to take it slow”

“A…A coma?” I sat back up as I realized what he said. He was about to push me back down again, but the man in the wheelchair motioned him back.

“Mr. Allen, you’re at STAR labs. You were struck by lightning; do you remember that?” Disjointed memories played through my mind at lightning speed. The swerving of the car, Caitlin with her hair flying behind her, glass shattering, the asphalt against my face, the surge of electricity, redness, and then… nothing. It wasn’t like waking up when it seems as if no time has passed. I felt an emptiness, the kind you feel when you can’t remember something and you know that you’ve forgotten it, but still can’t remember what you’ve forgotten. The man spoke again, dragging me from my memories and back to reality.

“...been here for- Mr. Allen? Mr. Allen can you hear me?”

“Wha- yeah, yeah I’m fine, it’s fine.” The man looks at me skeptically and begins again.

“As I was saying, I’m Dr. Harrison Wells, the director here at STAR Labs-”

“STAR Labs?” I interrupt, “Why am I here.”

“I’m getting to that part. Six months ago, we turned on a device called a particle accelerator-”

“Six months ago?” I asked, hoping I was wrong about what he would say next.

“Mr. Allen, if you continue to interrupt me I might just leave and you can figure out what happened on your own.” Dr. Wells said, looking at me with those piercing eyes. I looked down, chastised, and he continued,

“Six months ago, we turned on a device called a particle accelerator. Unfortunately there was an accident and it exploded, releasing a huge amount of energy into the atmosphere. That energy seems to have ionized any nearby clouds, causing lightning strikes. Your car was struck by one of these lightning bolts. As far as we could tell you and Miss Snow here were thrown from the car and you suffered a traumatic brain injury; you really ought to wear your seatbelt.” I opened my mouth to protest that I always wear my seatbelt, but though better of it and allowed Dr. Wells to continue. “You’ve been in a coma with minimal brain activity for the past six months. When it was clear that you were unlikely to wake up, I offered to have you moved here to STAR labs. I suppose I feel a certain responsibility for what happened to you. Now if you will please allow Hartley to run a few tests,” he motioned for me to lie back, “We have no idea why you woke up or if something might be wrong with you.”

I laid back on the bed, trying to process everything Dr. Wells had said, and I barely noticed as Hartley began to examine me. Suddenly I realized that there was something Dr. Wells had not explained.

“What about you Caitlin?” I asked, looking over to where she stood, a few feet away from the cot I was lying on. She took a step forward, but the voice that answered me was not hers.

“The man who called 911 found Miss Snow unconscious next to the road in a pile of, snow.” Dr. Wells explained, seeming slightly amused at the irony. “She was shaken up, but fine. It appeared that the electricity traveled almost exclusively through you.”

“Appeared?” This time Hartley was the one who answered my question.

“You were found with extensive lightning flowers covering your arms and chest. Lightning flowers are injuries specific to exposure to large voltages of electricity,” Hartley explained, anticipating my next question. “The EMT’s initially reported you had them covering your arms, but they disappeared by the time you arrived at the hospital. My best guess is that the lightning bolt had lower voltage due to it’s origin and therefore caused pseudo-flowers which disappeared rapidly.”

“I don’t know, seemed pretty powerful to me.” Hartley quirked an eyebrow at this and replied,

“Oh, because you’ve been struck by lightning so many times?” Sensing defeat I instead turned to Caitlin again.

“I’m sorry, really I-”

“It’s not your fault Barry.” Caitlin said reassuringly, then added, “I think I would rather have been struck by lightning than have had to ride home with Ronnie anyway.” She smiled slightly and I smiled back. Hartley broke the moment by saying,

“You know you’re incredibly lucky Barry. Ten percent of people struck by lightning die, and sixty some percent of the rest have permanent brain damage or personality change. It put you in a coma. Look you were at a six on the Glasgow scale, you shouldn’t have even woken up much less-”

“What Hartley is trying to say,” Dr. Wells wisely interrupted, “Is that you could experience a number of after effects. Please, if you or your family and friends notice anything is wrong, different, give us a call. Or just come over, the door is open to you.”

“Hey Barry,” Caitlin said, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth,  
“It looks like you could use a ride home.”

“I guess now there’s no chance of us getting struck by lightning, right?” I grinned.

“That’s not how probability…huh” Hartley trailed of with an exasperated sigh and walked out of the room. I looked at Dr. Wells, who motioned to the door. I followed Caitlin towards the exit, but turned around as Dr. Wells called,

“Oh, and Mr. Allen, wear your seatbelt this time.” I walked out of the room, shaking my head. As I followed Caitlin through a maze of circular hallways to the exit elevator she explained how the building was laid out in of centric rings around a central cortex, the room we had been in.  We were several stories up and below us was the remains of the particle accelerator

“I bet your parents will be glad to see you.” Caitlin said as we pulled away from STAR Labs, breaking the growing silence. I winced mentally and considered just agreeing with her, but decided there was no reason to lie.

“My dad will be really happy I’m sure.” I said glancing at Caitlin to see that she hadn’t understood the underlying message. “My mom died from cancer when I was nine,” I explained, forestalling the apology I knew was coming by adding, “It’s OK, Caitlin, you couldn’t have known.” I tried to give her a smile, but it came out as more of a grimace I think. “What about you?” I asked, not wanting to think about my mom right then.

“My parents are big researchers at Mercury labs.” The bitterness in Caitlin’s voice was apparent as she continued, “They take care of me, but they aren’t what you would call very…involved.” Her voice was thick with emotion as she finished the last word. I felt an urge to comfort her in some way, so I placed my hand somewhat awkwardly on her shoulder. She turned her head to look at me and our eyes met, but didn’t separate. The road noise disappeared as I stared into her eyes, and for what felt like an eternity; we were the only thing in the universe. Then I heard a dull _thud_ and I realized she was supposed to be driving the car. I tried to open my mouth to say something, but I couldn’t. _‘Not again, oh God, NOT AGAIN’_ I yelled inside my mind. The situation was so scarily familiar. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. I was starting to full on panic when I heard the noise again. _Thud, thud_. The third time I felt it reverberate through my whole body, starting in my chest, two crashes that started in my chest and seemed to spread out, shaking my whole body. I sat, unable to move, and looked at my reflection in Caitlin’s eyes as a fourth _thud thud_ sounded in my ears. Was Caitlin experiencing this too? Was she trapped there cross from me; unable to move or breathe, her heart racing, thinking about that night–and then it hit me. I realized what the noise was as another set of thuds echoed in my ears.

_My heartbeat._

It quickly sped back up to its normal rate and I was able to move. I practically jerked upright, panting. Caitlin glanced at the road, then back at me her eyes filled with concern.

“Did I just grow a third leg or something?’’ I asked, more sharply than I intended. Caitlin turned back the look at the road, but not before I saw her look of confusion turn into one of hurt.

We rode most of the rest of the way in silence. As we got close to my house Caitlin was unable to suppress a question that she had already started to ask twice but had stopped herself.

“Barry do you remember something, well, _strange_ from the night it happened?” Her voice had a tremble that betrayed the fear behind her question-the same fear that I felt. “I think we both know we were wearing our seatbelts.” She looked at me as the car came to a stop outside my house. I opened my mouth, then closed it and shook my head unable or unwilling to answer, and unsure of which. I could see it as I looked into her eyes once more. Deep down I knew it like she did, but I was terrified of what _it_ could be. It felt as if she could see everything I was thinking with those piercing eyes, so I broke the moment, getting up out of her car.

“Thanks for the ride, Caitlin.” I said, my voice strained. “I’ll see you around.” Then I turned and walked across the lawn to my front door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aright, Chapter two finished! So, Something's up with Barry. I'm sure nobody can guess what is. As always, any comments are appreciated. 
> 
> Hopefully I can start to post this twice a week, I guess we’ll see how that goes. My winter sport just wrapped up so I suddenly have lots of free time. Also, let me know, should I do Chapter titles? It seems like extra work but I know some people like that kind of thing. Maybe. I guess I would... Am I rambling? Definitely rambling. Anyways,
> 
> See ya later!
> 
> -TJ


	3. Chapter 3

“Barry?” My dad stood in the doorway in shock.

“Yeah, Dad, it’s me.” I stepped forward and my dad pulled me into a bear hug. It was as if he thought if he let go I would disappear. Eventually I extricated myself from him.

“How long–”

“I just woke up. I came as soon as I could.” My dad pulled me into another hug.

“I knew you were going to wake up. The doctors…they said you wouldn’t, even that doctor at STAR Labs didn’t really think you would, but I knew. I knew you would wake up.”

“Sorry about the car by the way,” I said jokingly and my dad and I grinned at each other.

“That’s alright, I just took the money out of our college fund to pay for it.” We laughed again.

“So, what have I missed?” My dad had to think about that for a minute.

“Well, let’s see. The Patriots won the Super Bowl.”

“Again?”

“Yeah again,” My dad chuckled. “And cousin Jamie got married. Umm, let me think…” He trailed off.

“What about you, Dad?” He seemed uncomfortable at this question.

“Well work’s been good, I guess. I get by, you know that.” He paused for a moment, the redirected the conversation by asking, “So what did they say at STAR Labs? I can’t imagine they just let you walk out without doing tests or something.”

“I don’t know. They didn’t know why I woke up, but this one guy, Hartley, he seemed pretty sure I shouldn’t have. They explained what happened to me and said I should go see them if I notice anything weird. I guess there could be something wrong with me. I feel fine though, don’t worry.” I added quickly, seeing my dad’s face start to curve into a frown.

“OK, just take it easy, alright Slugger?”

“Sure Dad.” A thought crossed my mind, “Hey, why are you home? Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“It’s Saturday. August 12th. I guess you really did hurry home. Speaking of which, how’d you get here? If you had called I would have picked you up.”

“Oh, well, Caitlin was there and she gave me a ride.”

“Caitlin,” My dad said musingly, “She’s the girl who was in the car with you when you got hit by lightning, right?”

“Yeah…” I said, unsure where he was going with this.

My dad just nodded thoughtfully, then changed the subject.

“I guess you must be hungry, yeah?” When he said that I suddenly felt an emptiness in my stomach that I hadn’t realized was there before.

“I guess not eating for a few months will do that to you.” I agreed.

“I already ate lunch, but I’ll pull something out for you. How’s tomato soup sound?” That was one of my favorites, and he knew it.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“It’s good to have you home, Barry.”

* * *

 

I spent a couple hours googling anything I had missed over the past few months. I still couldn’t quite get my head around the fact that I had just…missed six months of my life. _‘Why me?’_ was all I could think. It seemed like everything just went wrong all at once. I had to move, and then I get struck by lightning. I mean what are the chances? Actually, I googled that too; apparently I’m literally one in a million. The afternoon and evening flew by, and soon enough I was getting ready for bed. That’s when it happened the second time.

I was just standing there, brushing my teeth when all of a sudden, I felt as if time was slowing down. I couldn’t move, so I stood there, toothbrush in my mouth as my heartbeat pounded in my ears once, twice, three times. I began to try to move. I pulled as hard as I could on the toothbrush which seemed stuck in my mouth. I pulled and pulled as my heart beat thudded a fourth, fifth, sixth time. I was really starting to panic when, as I again tried to tense my arm to pull the toothbrush away, whatever was holding me seemed to give way and the toothbrush whipped out of mouth. It flew out of my grip, across the bathroom, and broke into several pieces as it hit the wall. I stood there, dumbfounded, until I felt toothpaste dribbling down my chin.

I rinsed my mouth then went to inspect the toothbrush. It had broken into several pieces. I might not have finished physics, but I definitely knew that it would take a lot of force to break plastic like this. And if force is mass times acceleration, just how fast had the toothbrush going? I eventually just picked up the pieces and threw them away. I walked to the top of the stairs and called,

“Dad!”

“Yeah, Barry?”

“I need a new toothbrush. Mine is…kind of gross after six months.” I don’t quite know why I didn’t just tell him what happened. I guess I just didn’t know how to explain it, even to myself.

“There should be some in the medicine cabinet!” My dad replied after thinking for a moment

“OK, thanks!” Instead of getting a new toothbrush I just walked into my room and sat down on my bed. My hands were shaking. _‘What is happening to me?’_ I thought. _‘Am I going crazy? That guy at STAR Labs did say something about personality change…’_ Then I remembered Dr. Wells’ talk of after-effects. Yeah, that had to be it I reasoned. I’d just go over to STAR Labs the next day and they could figure this whole thing out.

Feeling resolved, I went to bed. I had some trouble getting to sleep, but I figured the best thing was to just get back on a normal schedule. Unfortunately, it seemed my body had no such intentions and I woke up at 5 am, the dull grey of dawn starting to break over the horizon. After I was sure there was no hope of getting back to sleep (of course there wasn’t), I decided to just get up and go for a run. I was pretty sure that taking a six-month long nap had not helped my mile time. So I put on some shorts and a T-shirt and headed out for my run. I was just planning to take it easy, but once I got started I felt great. I was entering my second mile when those mysterious ‘after-effects’ hit again. I felt myself freeze mid-stride and I forced myself not to panic. Remembering how I unfroze myself the last time I just pushed as hard as I could against the invisible force holding me and sure enough t seemed to snap, and I ran forward. Now, however, time seemed to go faster and faster. The world around me blurred as I ran, and ran, and ran. I couldn’t stop, couldn’t slow down. I felt as if I had been running for hours when my vision faded completely and I blacked out.

I came to as I crashed into a wooden fence, breaking through it into someone’s backyard. For the second time in as many days I opened my eyes in a strange place with no idea how I got there. This time the answer came to me quickly, along with more questions. ‘ _Where am I? What time is it? What the hell is happening?’_ These questions and more ran through my head. A quick look at my watch showed it was only 5:40, ten minutes after I left my house. I climbed out through the hole in the fence I had just made, wincing at the pain in my left shoulder, and inspected it. This wasn’t some cheap, drywall thickness fence. No, we’re talking around an inch of solid wood. I shrugged, figuring it must have been rotten to break so easily. Really I was doing whoever would have to replace that a favor. Limping slightly, I jogged off, expecting to see the houses of the neighborhood I had been jogging in. I still didn’t consider it home yet, that was still back in Starling. Instead I found myself surrounded by unfamiliar houses and street signs. I pulled out my phone, only to find that I had no coverage; my dad must have disconnected it at some point while I was in the coma. I just kept going until I hit a main road. I then had to Jog along Lincoln Road which, shockingly, I didn’t recognize, until I could find a cross road.

I was starting to panic. I had only lived in Central City for 3 weeks (that I could remember anyways) and that doctor from STAR Labs, Harmon? Harvey? Whatever his name was, it was his words, both spoken and unspoken, that stuck with me. Maybe I was really going crazy. That seemed to be a genuine possibility. Or maybe I had lost my memory of Central City and everything I thought I knew was wrong. Maybe I had been running for an entire day. Another quick look at my watch ruled out that last idea. It was now 5:46 on August 13th. Finally, another street came into view. West Meadowbrook Road. I did a double take as I realized what that meant. I lived off of East Meadowbrook Road, which meant I had run all the way across the northern suburbs. In ten minutes. Less actually, because I ran that one mile first.

“What is happening to me?” I said to the telephone pole to my left, half expecting it to answer and then to wake up from this crazy dream. The problem was I felt totally lucid. I was as awake as I had ever been, but I had just run some 20 miles in 4 minutes. _‘I guess that lightning really did help my mile time!’_ As I had this thought I burst out into uncontrollable laughter. I just stood there at 6 in the morning, on some street corner miles from home, laughing hysterically at the absurdity of the whole situation. _‘I guess I really am a crazy person now.’_ That thought just made me laugh even harder.

Eventually I stopped laughing and started trying to figure out what to do. There was a gas station on the opposite corner, so I crossed the road. I walked in, the door dinging behind me. My phone has no service so I figured I would have to just ask to use one in the gas station. There was a man in his sixties with a beer belly and raggedy beard which looked like he had cut it himself.

“Uhh, hi. So, my phone isn’t working, and I got lost,” I paused to clear my throat then continued, “Can I, well do you have a phone here I can use to call my dad?” The guy just looked at me for several uncomfortable seconds, and I began to consider repeating my request. Then the guy turned around and grabbed a landline, placing it on the counter between us.

“Go ahead.” He said gruffly. He then proceeded to watch me like a hawk, as if he was afraid I could steal his _corded phone_. After a couple of rings my dad picked up; thank God he was an early riser.

“Hello?”

“Dad? It’s Barry.”

“Barry? What…Where are you?”

“Uhh… I’m at a gas station at Lincoln and West Meadowbrook. Listen, it’s a long story. I’ll explain it later, can you please just come pick me up?”

“Of course. Where are you again?”

“Lincoln and Meadowbrook.”

“Alright, I’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks Dad.” I hung up the phone, nodded to the man behind the counter, still looking at me suspiciously, and walked out of the gas station. I sat down some grass outside and dropped my head into my arms, trying to figure out how I was going to explain all this to my dad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Chapter 3’s wrapped up. If you liked it let me know in the comments below, or drop me any suggestions. I’m not 100% set on where this is going for the most part, so things could shift around based on your requests/suggestions/any dreams that I have. 
> 
> I think I should have Chapter 4 out by Sunday, so I guess I’ll see you then!
> 
> Peace,
> 
> -TJ


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone who checks this, I’m sorry this chapter is way later than I said. It was a crazy week, but you don’t care about that. You care that I have a long weekend, which means Chapter 5 (In which we meet Cisco) by Tuesday night. At least I hope someone cares. Anyways, enjoy Chapter 4!

The car ride home felt excruciatingly long. After several minutes of deafening silence my dad finally spoke up.

“So, what were you doing out there in the middle of nowhere? At 6 am.” I shook my head, shrugging my shoulders and saying,

“I have no idea why I was there.” My dad looked at me as if expecting me to say more, and when I didn’t he prompted me again.

“Were you there with anyone?”

“No.” I stared straight ahead at the road.

“Well, how did you get there?” Seeing my hesitation to reply, my dad added, “Come on Barry, just tell me what’s going on. I’m not mad at you.”

“I ran there.” At this my dad’s eyebrows shot up.

“That’s almost 20 miles Barry. Must have taken a while.” I didn’t reply. “Are you feeling OK? Maybe we should take you in to STAR Labs and have them check you out.”

“No!” I said, a bit sharper than I intended. I didn’t know what was going on, but I was pretty sure that the last thing I wanted was some scientists trying to analyze me to figure it out, and I definitely didn’t need my dad there while they did. “I’m just tired. I need some more sleep.”

“Alright. We don’t have any plans today, so feel free to sleep for a while. Just try to wake up before Christmas, huh?” My dad looked at me to see if I was going to laugh at his joke. “Too soon?” I forced a smile onto my face.

“No, like I said, I’m just tired.” Actually, that was a lie. I had run 20 miles and I wasn’t tired. I hadn’t even broken a sweat. I needed to figure out what was happening to me, now. The rest of the ride passed in silence. Soon we were driving through the neighborhood to our new house. No, not new. Seven months old, I mentally corrected myself. I looked around at the houses which were starting to become familiar. I remembered my panicked thoughts of having forgotten everything about where I lived. I shook myself from my thoughts as we pulled into the driveway and got out.

“Thanks for coming to get me, Dad.” I said as we entered our house.

“Of course. Now go get some sleep.” I climbed the stairs and entered my room. I changed into my pajamas and laid down on my bed, but I couldn’t sleep. Instead I stared up at my ceiling and went over in my head all the times that I had experienced the strange time-slowing. Maybe there was a clue as to what caused it or what it meant if I just thought about it.

The first time was with Caitlin driving me home from STAR Labs. I had looked into her eyes and…Then a thought hit me. The first time I felt this time-slowing experience was in a car with Caitlin, but I was driving not her. It was six months ago, but for me it felt like less than 24 hours. I closed my eyes trying to recall every detail. First the image of Caitlin, still frozen in my mind’s eye. The flecks of snow in her hair, her eyes, her tear-streaked cheeks. I could almost feel the tingling on my skin. In retrospect that must have been the electricity about to hit. I could remember everything perfectly, as if watching a movie in slo-mo, until the point that the lightning seemed to surge out of my chest. No matter how many times I replayed the memory in my head, nothing beyond that came back.

Then, on my fifth time going over the memory, something did connect. The feeling as the lightning stopped burning in my chest and exploded outwards was something I had felt. Recently. It was the strange sensation that accompanied breaking out of the immobility I felt when I shattered my toothbrush, and just this morning when I had pushed through and started running. It was like a click I felt through my whole body, and then a burst of motion. As I concentrated I remembered my vision being red, then it cleared as I moved and there was a flash of black and white. Slowly images resolved out of the blur. Caitlin, my hand reaching towards her, undoing her seatbelt, then my own. The car was frozen in the middle of flipping as I stood up and pulled Caitlin, frozen mid-scream, from the seat. I pulled her clear of the car and pushed her as hard as I could towards a pile of snow on the side of the road. I felt the car moving as time sped up again. I pushed with my legs, jumping away from the car, and landed on the road.

As my head hit the ground I jerked up into a sitting position and my eyes flew open. My heart was pounding and I was sweating. Was what I just saw a dream or a memory? It was so vivid and real, but at the same time totally impossible. _‘Just like running 20 miles in 4 minutes is impossible,’_ said a voice in my head. That was really when I began to figure it out. In the back of mind an idea was forming. I was, somehow, fast. Really fast. The rational part of my brain argued that it couldn’t be true, but how else could I explain the strange things that kept happening. A knock at the door downstairs shook me from my thoughts.

“I got it!” I called, pulling on my jeans and walking down the stairs to answer the door. To my surprise I found none other than Caitlin Snow standing on my doorstep. I stopped myself from saying something stupid like _‘Hey, I just had a dream about you!’_ And instead said,

“Hey, Caitlin. What’s up?”

“Hi Barry.” She seemed a bit nervous. “You know this seemed way less awkward in my head.” I chuckled at that and she cracked a small smile. “Well, Cisco, JJ, Tim, and some other people are coming to my house to watch a movie tonight, and I wanted to invite you. I would have texted you, but I don’t have your number.” This sounded like I was being invited to join the nerds for a movie night.

“What are you watching?” I asked, although I had already decided I would say yes.

“Pixels.” I hadn’t actually seen it, but I remembered the trailers looking good.

“Yeah, I’d like to come. I’ll just have to make sure that my dad will let me after the last party I went to.” That got a smile from Caitlin. I caught myself staring at her smiling and realized I was still standing in the doorway.

“Oh, do you want to come in?” I asked, stepping aside to let her in. She shifted hesitantly outside the doorway.

“Err, that’s OK, thanks. I’ll see you tonight?”

“Alright, well at least let me give you my phone number so you can send me your address.”

“Oh, right.” Caitlin pulled out her phone, typing a bit then handing it to me to put in my number. Her fingertips were cool and smooth as they touched mine when I handed the phone back. We looked at each other, and then I said,

“Well, I’ll see you later hopefully. Text me your address, yeah?” Caitlin nodded and replied,

“Bye Barry.” As she turned and walked off. I was watching her leave, lost in thought, until I heard my dad call,

“Who’s there Bar?”

“Uh, it was Caitlin actually.”

“Was”

“Yeah, she just left.”

“Didn’t you invite her in?” My dad was a bit of a stickler about manners. “I would’ve liked to meet her.”

“Yeah she had to go.” Although she hadn’t actually told me that it seemed pretty obvious from how she acted.

“Well what did she want?”

“Umm, she invited me over tonight. She’s having a bunch of friends over for a movie night.” I quickly clarified.

“Oh, and you qualified as a friend?” My dad raised an eyebrow, something I had sadly never been able to do. I shrugged and replied,

“What can I say, being struck by lightning together forges a special kind of bond.” That got my dad to crack a smile. “So, can I go?”

“Sure, just try not to forge any more special bonds, alright?” I grinned and headed up the stairs to my room. “And try to be home at a reasonable time!” My dad called up after me. That was my dad for you. Not ‘be home before midnight,’ or ‘remember your curfew,’ no I had to be home at a ‘reasonable time,’ which meant it would depend on his mood when I got home if it was ‘reasonable’ or not. I sighed and flopped on my bed. I took out my phone, which my dad had thankfully reconnected to our plan, to find that I had a text from an unknown number.

 **(740) 224 8546:** _Hey Barry, it’s Caitlin._ I quickly entered a contact for her, then replied:

 **Barry:** _Hey, I’m good to go for ur movie night._

 **Barry:** _What time is at?_ A few moments later a buzz told me she had answered.

 **Caitlin:** _Were starting the movie at 8, but everyone is coming to hang out a bit earlier._ I gave a frustrated sigh. ‘A bit earlier’ was not extremely helpful as far as timing goes. Instead of mentioning that, I just thought of something witty to say.

 **Barry:** _Is it creepy to ask where u live? :p_

 **Caitlin:** _Just a little_

 **Caitlin:** _ 7669 Ridgebrook Lane_ _, u want directions?_

 **Barry:** _Nah_

 **Barry:** _I’ll just map it. Cya later_

 **Caitlin:**  :)

I had just pressed my home button to map directions to Caitlin’s house when _it_ happened again. The animation of messages closing seemed to freeze. This time I didn’t panic. _‘I know how to get out of this,’_ I thought, _‘I’ll just have to be careful I don’t break my phone like the toothbrush.’_ I tried to move my free arm and found, to my astonishment, that I could move it. Sure, it felt like there was a twenty-pound weight tied to it, but I could move it. I brought my hand up to the screen and tapped it. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. I had a sudden mental image of walking into the Apple Store and trying to explain that my phone froze, along with the rest of the world. I started to laugh and found that the more I laughed, the more relaxed I became, and the easier I could move. I stood up, and tried to toss my phone onto my pillow for later. Usually, gravity would have done its thing and the phone would have landed on my pillow. Instead my phone spun in a nearly horizontal path towards the wall. I winced as it hit the wall with a smack, rebounding off a small distance and seeming to hang in midair.

I quickly climbed onto my bed and grabbed the phone out of the air. That’s when I noticed that my phone wasn’t frozen. The animation for messages closing was actually almost finished. As I stared at my phone it continued to shrink until it faded completely, my home screen appearing. The crazy idea from earlier popped into m mind. This seemed to confirm that I was somehow crazy fast. Or time just decided to take a vacation and just slow down all of a sudden. I pressed maps and nothing happened. Then, every so slowly, maps began to open. As it opened, the animation seemed to speed up. I assumed the world had returned to a normal speed, or rather _I_ had returned to normal speed. To test it, I picked up my watch off of my nightstand and gently tossed it. It fell at a normal rate.

I sighed and mapped Caitlin’s house, just so I would have it for later, then lay back on my bed to stare at my ceiling. _‘What_ am _I going to do?’_ was my last thought before I drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I hope you liked that chapter. I have few notes that I want to address about consistency and such (and fun stuff if you’re a nerd like me who loves hidden stuff).
> 
> Firstly, this is an AU, which means that I can pretty much change characters in certain ways to make them fit how I want into the story, so I’m sorry if you don’t like that. I am making an attempt to stick at least as best I can to how they are (personality wise) in the TV show.
> 
> Secondly, at the current moment I am undecided on whether or not I will include parallel/alternate earths in this story, however I really wanted Jesse Wells to be a part of the story because I always liked her (spoiler alert for next chapter lol). So, I basically decided that since original Harrison Wells survived in this AU, he would be sort of like Harry from Earth-2 in the TV show. Except maybe not quite as abrasive. You get the point. And I can include Jesse (as a nerd of course; look who her father is). If I include multiple earths, well we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.
> 
> Third, now that we’ve got the heavy stuff out of the way, I would greatly appreciate feedback about how I did the whole test messages thing, formatting wise. I’ve never done this before and it seemed good to me, but maybe it was atrocious on the reader end. If so please tell me and I can make it better in the future.
> 
> Lastly, for anyone who is so inclined, there’s a little Easter egg in the numbers with Caitlin. So if that’s your thing, happy hunting. Drop a comment and I’ll let you know if you got it.
> 
> As always, feel free to comment with suggestions, ideas about what I said here or whatever below. Thanks for reading!
> 
> -TJ


End file.
